


Shocked

by Higherthanakite



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Brightwell, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by Prodigal Son (TV 2019), Whump, h/c
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:34:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22618684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higherthanakite/pseuds/Higherthanakite
Summary: This is my first fanfiction, ya'll.In the Internal Affairs episode, when Malcolm almost shocks himself, I wondered what would have happened if he had gone through with it. So here you go!Some fair warnings:1. Like I said, this is my first fanfiction, so it's probably not very good.2. I am not a writer (I wish I was, but sadly, nope).3. I am not a doctor, so there are probably so many medical inaccuracies.I would love some feedback if y'all have any :)And anyone is welcome to steal this idea and write their own fic of it.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 83





	Shocked

“Like _this_?” Malcolm said. Dani was across the room, and when she heard Malcolm, she turned to see that he was talking to Gil, “I’m like _this_ because of Martin Whitly. Because of John Watkins. Because of you!”

Dani froze. She couldn’t believe what she just heard. Within an instant, she knew Malcolm didn’t mean what he said, but she hoped Gil knew that. Gil then said something, but Dani couldn’t hear what it was from where she was standing, but she saw his lips move.

“You asked for my help. You knew I couldn’t say no, and you brought them all back into my life. You did that! You started this!” Malcolm had raised his voice this time, shocking Dani even further to what was happening. Dani then saw Gil’s lips move again, but she could not make out what he said.

As Gil stormed away, Malcolm jumped up from his chair to go after him, but Gil slammed the door to his office shut.

Dani just stood there, watching Malcolm because she didn’t really know what to do. She replayed the words Malcolm said to Gil in her mind. _This isn’t really like Malcolm_ , she thought, _Malcolm has said a lot of things that he shouldn’t have in the past, but this is different. Something must be going on with him for him to say stuff like that, especially to Gil_. She didn’t know if she should intervene, at least not yet.

Unexpectedly, Malcolm turned his gaze to his right, but she couldn’t see what caught his attention so suddenly. Malcolm turned his head to look in front of him, and Dani followed with her eyes where he was looking, but she still didn’t see anything. In a flash, Malcolm bolted into one of the rooms and shut the door behind him.

“Bright,” Dani called while striding straight to the room. When she reached the room, she started rattling the doorknob, but the door was locked.

“Bright,” she called, while alternating knocking and jiggling the doorknob, “Open-Open this door.” Dani could hear this strange, high-pitched sound coming from inside the room, and she suddenly had a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that something bad was about to happen. “Open this door,” she demanded, still banging on the door and trying to turn the knob, “What are you doing? Open this door! Bright!”

Overhead, all of the lights in the precinct sparked and went out, but, immediately the back-up lights cut on. Dani looked around and was trying not to panic. _What did Bright do? Did he just cause this?_ She started beating at the door again and calling Bright’s name. _Why isn’t he answering?!_

“Who has a key for this room?” Dani asked anyone that was listening. She got a couple of head-shakes from people walking by. She started banging on the door even harder and shouting Bright’s name. _Something is very wrong._ Dani knew she couldn’t wait any longer, so she took a step back and kicked the door with as much force as she could muster. People turned indistinctly and stared at her, but she kept kicking. This would probably come out of her paycheck, but she didn’t care. It took three kicks, but she got the door open.

When Dani stormed into the room, her eyes frantically scanned around, and then her gaze went down to the floor. Malcolm was lying face down on the floor, and he was not moving. She rushed to him and turned him over so he was on his back. Inspecting Malcolm from head to toe, he appeared to be unconscious, and then her eyes found the ECT machine on the table.

“Bright! Bright, can you hear me?” Dani asked frantically while gently smacking his cheeks to try to get him to wake up, but then she noticed the burn marks on his temples. _No. No. You didn’t. Bright, please tell me you didn’t._ Malcolm was so still, and something about him didn’t look right. He looked...pale. Dani put her middle and pointer finger on the side of his neck to check his pulse, but she didn’t feel anything. _No. This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening._ She put her ear to his chest, but she didn’t hear his heartbeat.

“Dani, what’s going on? What happened to the lights?” Gil asked from the doorway.

“Call 911!” Dani shouted, “Go get help! Bright, come on. Don’t do this to me,” she pleaded and started chest compressions, “You’re gonna be okay. Come on.” After 30 chest compressions, she gave him two rescue breaths, and then started another round of CPR. Gil quickly registered what was going on and he immediately whipped out his cellphone and called 911. “I’m going to go get help,” Gil said as he ran out of the room.

“Dani, what-” Dani then heard JT’s voice from behind her but he stopped mid-sentence and was at her side. She gave Malcolm two rescue breaths again, but then JT pushed her aside and took over.

“What happened?!” JT asked.

“I-I think he sh-shocked himself,” Dani tried to say, but she felt like she couldn’t really breathe. _This isn’t real. This can’t be happening. It just can’t be. If I had gotten to the door faster, I could’ve stopped him._

“What?! Why?,” JT said and he delivered two rescue breaths and repeated chest compressions.

“I-I don’t know,” Dani said and her lower lip started to quiver. It felt like time had stopped but at the same time, it felt like an eternity had passed. She looked down at Malcolm, and tears started to fill her eyes. As JT continued the chest compressions, she waited for Malcolm to open his eyes. _He’s going to open his eyes. I know he is. He’s going to be okay._ Before Dani realized it, tears were streaming down her face, but she wiped them with the back of her hand before JT noticed.

“Come on, bro. Breathe for me,” JT begged.

“Bright, come on,” she begged with JT, “Just breathe.” Dani waited for him to gasp, to make some sound to show he was alive, but he was unresponsive. 

“Bright, don’t do this, man,” JT muttered, and he was already out of breath.

“It’s my turn,” Dani said, as JT finished the rescue breaths, “You’re not dying on me, Bright.” As she continued the chest compressions, she could hear this cracking sound coming from Malcolm’s chest, and she sometimes felt something shifting and popping beneath her hands as she pressed down. It felt like she was breaking every rib in his body with how hard she was pressing down, but she had to ignore the sounds and the sensation beneath her hands because she couldn't let him die. 

JT was talking to Dani, but she couldn’t really hear him. She wasn’t going to stop. She would not allow Malcolm to die, not on her watch.

“Dani, let up some,” JT warned and placed his hand on her shoulder. But Dani kept going, and before she knew it, she was beating his chest with her fists.

“Come on,” she yelled, “You can’t leave me, please!”

“Dani, stop,” JT pleaded and tried to pull her off of Malcolm. Dani slammed her fists on his chest and tears were falling from her eyes. Two paramedics suddenly rushed into the room, and JT pulled Dani off of Malcolm and helped her sit in one of the chairs at the table. JT was saying something to Dani but it sounded like he was under water. Gil must have been right behind the paramedics, because now he was kneeling in front of Dani, and their eyes were level with each other.

“Dani, can you hear me?” Gil asked, but she didn’t respond, she couldn’t, “Dani, take a deep breath.” The paramedics were at work, but Dani couldn’t look. _I can’t do this. Please don’t leave me._ As Gil instructed, she took a deep breath in and exhaled.

“Gil, I can’t lose him,” Dani whispered.

“We’re not gonna lose him,” Gil reassured her and he grabbed both of her hands and gave a little squeeze to try to comfort her. This gave Dani some courage to look over to see that the paramedics had hooked Malcolm up to a defibrillator.

“Charging. Clear,” one of the paramedics said, and Gil squeezed her hands again. Dani turned away and looked out the window. _It feels like a dream. A nightmare. I’ve got to wake up. If I just wake up, this will all be over._ Dani tried not to listen, tried not to look. If she listened or looked, then that would somehow make it a reality, but she couldn’t help herself. She slowly turned her head as one of the paramedics said again, “Charging. Clear.” Malcolm’s body jerked as the defibrillator shocked him.

“There you go! Just breathe normal,” one of the paramedics said, and Dani saw that Malcolm’s eyes were open and his chest was rising and falling. Gil looked at Dani with relief and a smile. Dani jumped up from her chair without thinking and put her hand on his chest to feel it rising and falling. His heart was beating. He was breathing. Dani closed her eyes and let out a shaky sigh of relief.

“Your hands are really cold,” Malcolm said, “Are you sure you’re alive? I’m sure they could shock you, too.” Dani rolled her eyes and grinned at him. Malcolm tried to sit up but he winced in pain and raised a hand to his chest.

“Hey, take it easy, kid,” Gil said from behind Dani.

“I’m fine,” he said, “my chest just feels like it’s been crushed.”

“That’s because we pretty much crushed it doing CPR on you,” JT interjected.

“We’ve got to take him now,” one of the paramedics said as the other paramedic was wheeling in a gurney.

“I’m coming with you,” Dani said to Malcolm. The paramedics lifted Malcolm onto the gurney and wheeled him out of the room, and Dani followed them.

At the hospital, Dani was told to wait in a waiting room while they got Malcolm in a room and were able to run some tests to make sure he was okay. Gil and JT arrived shortly after, and they waited in the waiting room with her. After a couple hours, they were told that they could go see him in his room.

“We should probably go one at a time so we don’t overwhelm him,” Gil said, “Dani, you go. Come get us when you’re ready.” Dani knew what Gil was doing, and she appreciated it very much because she wanted to talk to Malcolm alone.

As she walked in, Malcolm was lying in a bed, in a hospital gown. He lit up when he saw her and smiled.

“How are you feeling?” Dani asked.

“Much better,” he said, “How are you doing?”

“Me? I’m fine,” she replied, a little confused as to why he was asking her how she was doing.

“I, um...I could tell I scared you.”

“Well, yeah, you did. Are we gonna talk about what happened in there?”

“I don’t really know, to be honest. It won’t happen again."

"Bright, I thought- I thought you were gone. Like gone, for good." she explained.

"I'm sorry," Malcolm said while looking down at his hands in his lap.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're my friend, Bright. I care about you. If I had lost you tonight I-," Dani stopped because if she continued, she knew she would start crying.

"You don't have to worry. I'm okay. Like I said, it won't happen again," Malcolm said, trying to comfort her.

"I just want you to know that there are people that are here for you and that care about you, and I’m one of those people."

"Wait, did you say we’re friends?" Malcolm asked.

“Thanks for ruining the moment,” Dani said sarcastically. Malcolm started chuckling and Dani joined him. But then he winced and put his hand to chest.

“Are you okay?” she asked, while looking at his vitals on the screen above his bed.

“Yeah, they said I have a couple fractured ribs from the CPR, but I’m fine,” he whispered and she could tell he was holding his breath from the pain, “I’m serious though. Where are our friendship bracelets?” he asked.

“Okay, I’m gonna go get Gil and JT,” she said, changing the subject while walking out of the room.

“Dani?” Malcolm called, and she stopped right before the door.

“Yeah?” she said while turning around to see there were tears in his eyes.

“Thank you. And I do know.” 


End file.
